Ludhiana: New officiating medical supdt appointed

Two days after the death of two newborns and three stillbirths at the Mother Child Hospital, attached to Lord Mahavira Civil Hospital here, Dr Renu was appointed officiating medical superintendent of the civil hospital on Tuesday.

Two days after the death of two newborns and three stillbirths at the Mother Child Hospital, attached to Lord Mahavira Civil Hospital here, Dr Renu was appointed officiating medical superintendent of the civil hospital on Tuesday. After taking charge, she held meetings with gynaecologists, paediatricians, the senior medical officer (SMO) and nurses.

The post of medical superintendent has been newly created for this hospital.

Dr Renu was called by Vini Mahajan, principal secretary, health and family welfare, Punjab, in the morning and asked to join at Ludhiana. She was earlier the civil surgeon, Barnala.

Gynaecologists Dr Renu Beri and Dr Mandeep have been shifted from the dispensaries to the Mother Child Hospital. Dr Beri joined on Tuesday. With Dr Alka Mittal being suspended on Monday, the hospital now has four gynaecologists.

When asked about replacing all sweepers and Class-4 employees in the maternity ward in an effort to curb the seeking of money from parents of newborns, Dr Renu said, “Changing the staff is not the solution. It will take me two or three days to understand the working of the hospital. Then, I will take decisions for its betterment.”

Jyani holds meeting

Punjab health minister Surjit Kumar Jyani held an emergent meeting of the health department in Chandigarh on Tuesday regarding the Mother Child Hospital incident. He directed civil surgeons to monitor the functioning of government hospitals, besides conducting periodic surprise checks in their respective districts.

“Any laxity on the part of doctors that causes harm to patients would not be spared. Strict action would be taken against doctors found responsible for causing deaths of the newborns,” he said.

“I took up the issue of appointing more doctors with the CM. Posts lying vacant would be filled at the earliest,” he added. He asked civil surgeons to identify hospitals with shortage of staff.

Taking a serious note of the ‘reluctance’ on the part of specialised surgeons to conduct operations in government hospitals, Jyani asked them to remain present in operation theatres (OTs), especially while handling serious cases of delivery.